Month: August 2009

Lessons learned from a Twitter contest

  1. Turn off email notifications on the main twitter account OR setup a filter
  2. Be more diligent about pruning followers/following
  3. There are some real CRAZIES out there!  Don't take it personally
Number three really got me down yesterday.  Someone misinterpreted something that was out there (spoke to them on the phone and STILL don't understand what they were SO upset about!).  I tried to ask what it was that upset them so and the only response was lawyer this, sue you that, "you wanna take me on?!?!?", and my favorite "anymore threats for me?" or something to that effect.  Now, if you know me you know I'm not threatening anyone.  I like my shit just so and therefore I don't mess with others' shit so they don't mess with mine.  That's my interpretation of the whole "do unto others" rule.  Anyway, it was really odd to truly not understand how to remedy the situation when I really wanted to.  I don't often run into someone that I can't understand their point of view.  Often I'm told there are factors you don't know or understand so stop trying.  Like a math problem where you aren't given all the variables, you can't (or shouldn't) try to account for the unknowns especially if there are too many (you don't know what you don't know).  Anyway, the very odd confrontation just threw me for a loop the whole day.  So the lesson is if you're going to do a campaign where you're interacting with the contestants (unlike a mail-in or email campaign), get ready for some surreal isht to happen!

What to do with @mcuban’s follower comparison site (really nice little tool for ppl new to Twitter)

I just grabbed this site from my Twitter stream and its EXACTLY what I need  – http://bit.ly/msiIf – its a little script that compares followers of multiple accounts.  Why does a business need this?  Well, when you're getting started probably the best way to figure out who to follow would be the people who follow accounts that you think are interesting.  For example, I can take a few of my competitors' twitter accounts, plug them in, and then see which ones of their followers are techies out there following multiple vendors and start to follow them.

Very simple, very cool.  Give it whirl!